Former Israel PM's ties to Epstein face scrunity
Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest is reverberating in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party are calling for a criminal probe into former prime minister Ehud Barak’s personal and business ties with the accused sex trafficker, Israeli media is reporting.
Barak, 77, served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001. This mon t h he formed a new party to run for prime minister against Net- anyahu, who called for new elections in September. Once political allies, Barak and Net- anyahu have been sparring on social media, with Net- anyahu producing a video raising Barak’s relationship to the multimillionaire New York financier, and Ohio billionaire Les Wexner, who has given money to Barak, the Times of Israel reported.
Barak was a close friend and business partner with Epstein for years. Now some of those business partner- ships are being scrutinized amid questions about Barak’s own source of wealth. The Times reported Saturday that Barak is exploring whether to sever business ties with Epstein, 66, who was charged last week with sex trafficking underage girls.
In 2015, Barak formed a limited partnership company in Israel to invest in a hightech startup called Reporty, now named Carbyne., which develops video streaming and geolocation software for emergency services, the Times reported. A large part of the investment money was supplied by Epstein.
Barak also received $2.5 million from the Wexner Foundation in 2004 for research, which has never been fully explained, Haaretz reported. Epstein was a mem- ber of that foundation.
Speaking on Israel TV’s “Meet the Press,” Saturday, Barak stated he had no idea that Epstein’s charges related to molesting underage girls and defended his business relationship with Epstein.
“He’d served his sentence for soliciting prostitution — the indictment didn’t say she was a minor,” Barak said, adding that he wasn’t the only person who kept his friend- ship with Epstein after his arrest. Epstein’s circle of asso- ciates included the presidents of leading U.S. universities, philanthropists, Nobel-prize- winning scientists and poli- ticians from both American political parties, Barak said.
“The American system itself did not label him as a persona non grata ... the sec- retary who just resigned in the Trump administration was the prosecutor and he said he’d been negligent — so you expect me to have noticed (anything wrong)?” Barak said on the program.
Barak was referring to Alex- ander Acosta, President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, who resigned Friday amid a drumbeat of questions over his decision to grant Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators federal immunity on sex trafficking charges in 2008. Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to two solicitation charges involving a 17-yearold girl he had molested at his waterfront home in Palm Beach in 2006.
However, by 2011, it was widely known that Epstein’s crimes were far more serious than what he pleaded guilty to. Stories were writ- ten around the world about Epstein’s exploitation of underage girls and women, and part of the sensational coverage included reports of trips that celebrities and other wealthy, politically connected people like former president Bill Clinton took on Epstein’s private jet, which was nicknamed “The Lolita Express.”
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who was among those under- age girls recruited by Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, has said that she was trafficked for sex to “academics and world leaders.” She has named Prince Andrew and Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz, as among those Epstein directed her to have sex with. Both have denied her allegation.